


There's Only One Bed

by TheSerpentQueen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 11:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18755620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSerpentQueen/pseuds/TheSerpentQueen
Summary: Set at the time of the Golden Trio's capture and imprisonment (Deathly Hallows) and set in Malfoy Manor.What if Hermione escaped Bellatrix's Torture? What if Malfoy found her?Prompt Challenge!Prompt - There's only one bed, uh oh, what do we do?





	There's Only One Bed

**There's Only One Bed**

 

  The rain slammed down hard on the many tower tops of Malfoy Manor. With the thunderstorm that raged in the sky above, mixed with the blasts of hexes and curses flying and emitting green and red sparks like a wild firework show, the surrounding manor grounds were lit up like a war zone. But, of course, it was a war zone.

  Hermione had escaped, she believed in herself, and she escaped the evil clutches of the Death Eaters and their deranged front woman, Bellatrix Lestrange. She only had to wait for her moment, while they were moving her from room to room, they strong armed her along corridors, one of which got her close enough to the main entrance of the grand building, all she had to do was wait until they had thought she had given up and go for it, it was her last hope.

  It had worked, in a sense, she had taken a dive at the huge doors, flung one open in front of her, and jumped down the front steps, and hopped quickly out of sight behind the thick hedges that surrounded the enormous house. But now every Death Eater in the building, and Voldemort himself, was on the hunt for her.

  Clutching her stinging arm, Hermione stayed low, trying not to jump at every noise, as there were many. She allowed her eyes to look over her blood drenched arm and linger on the insult carved into her skin. She didn’t care what the crazy woman did to her body when she thought she was going to die, but having to look at it now sent chills down Hermione’s spine. _‘Stop’_ She thought to herself _‘It doesn’t matter, just get out of here’._ A loud bang, that sounded much closer than the others, made her jump again. She took a deep breath, and stood up. She made a quick start to turn and run for the gate, but ended up slamming face first, straight into a tall, strong figure.

  Hermione took the unexpected blow and stumbled, falling forwards onto the mysterious figure. Before she could realise who he was, she felt arms much bigger than hers wrap around her tightly, squeezing her, so that she was pressed right up against her new captor. She felt them squeeze tighter and tighter and wished she could move her head up to see who had ended her flight to freedom so quickly, but who ever it was squeezed her so tightly that she could barely breathe.

  It wasn’t until the grip released quickly and the crashes and bangs became more muffled than loud, that she realised she wasn’t being squeezed, but someone had apperated with her, she was now standing in a large darkened room. When her eyes stopped blurring and smudging, she could see it had been Draco Malfoy. Her heart sank lower than she thought it could. She couldn’t stop her body from shaking, out of all Voldemort’s followers, why did he have to be the one to catch her?

  Hermione backed away in tiny, quick steps and closed her eyes tightly, she didn’t want Malfoy’s face to be the last thing she saw. She stumbled over some books and ended up falling backwards, landing on the floor with a thud. She covered her face, which was beginning to burn up and tried to suppress her soft whimpers.

“Granger it’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you” She heard him say, but she didn’t take her hands from her face. She brought her legs up so that she was in a ball, and put her head down on her knees. She heard a few floorboards creak and then felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Draco Malfoy’s hand. Her instinct was to swat him off, like a disgusting, unwelcome bug, but she was too tired. Her body had given up on her, even if her mind hadn’t. She had been so close to getting away. Hermione’s whimpers became heart wrenching sobs as she dug her head further into her knees. “I’m so sorry” he said “I’m so, _so_ sorry, I don’t want to do this anymore” his grip on her shoulder tightened “You have to believe me, I want to help you, and Potter, and even the Weasley” The mention of her best friends snapped her out of her weeping.

“They’re alive?” She croaked, barely able to speak, though she looked longingly into his deep, stormy grey-blue eyes. A new ray of hope had just shone through Hermione’s brain. She had convinced herself the Death Eaters would have killed them both by now.

“They are alive” he said, glad that she was starting to believe that he wasn’t out to get her “but they aren’t well, Hermione” He used her first name, probably for the first time ever, so she would see how painfully he was beginning to regret their entire history. Her face didn’t drop

“These days, alive _is_ well” She sniffed in response.

  She really wasn’t sure what was going on, but she didn’t have much of a choice other than to sit there. She looked around, eyes adjusting now, the room they were in, the lighting was low, the walls were emerald green and there was a long desk going along against the furthest wall from them, with sculptures and quills along the shiny top surface of it. On another wall there were three large mirrors, each framed in what looked like black marble. When she turned her head to see behind her, she saw an enormous circular window shining a thick beam of moonlight down onto a huge, four poster bed, with thick black velvet curtains hanging from the top of it and dropping all the way to the floor, which were currently being held back with green rope to reveal an unmade bed. The sheets, though messy and clearly slept in, looked so comfortable to Hermione right now, after sleeping on the floor, and camping before that with Harry and Ron. The pillows looked so plump, and the thick, green blanket looked so warm. Draco noticed her looking in the direction.

“It’s my bedroom” He informed her “I brought you here because I knew it would be the only place my father wouldn’t check” Draco assured her.

“Why did you bring me here at all?” Hermione asked, sniffing again, and looking back at Draco.

“I wanted to know you were safe” He said, his gaze didn’t break from her eyes. “I heard that you had run for it, and I was summoned to help search for you, and I wanted to be the first to find you, so I could make sure you weren’t caught by a much nastier Death Eater” Hermione was so confused.

“You hate me… You hate _us_ ” Hermione stammered.

“No, I thought I hated Muggleborns, half-bloods, blood traitors and such, I've been brought up to believe that pure blood is the only blood worth respecting” Draco said, he brought his other arm up so now he was cupping both of Hermione's shoulders with his hands, he willed there to be an easier way to convince her he was being genuine “I thought it was an honor, finally being able to stand by the Dark Lord’s side, like my father, but it was too much too fast, I assumed I could do it, I already made your life a misery, like all the other Muggleborns I'd ever known… I thought it would be easy, no different than usual, but _Hermione_ ” he said, his voice beginning to shake “what she did to you, what they're talking about _doing_ to you” he frowned hard at the thought and allowed his eyes to quickly glance over Hermione's bruised and gashed arm “I'm not like them, I couldn't do it, to you, to anybody, I can be truly awful, yes, but psychotically bloodthirsty?” Draco dropped his head “No, It’s all wrong, and I don't know why we are doing this anymore, I just want to stop” Draco inhaled, deeply, and closed his eyes. The pair sat without any further conversation, but just collected their own thoughts, and considered each other's, listening to the yells and blasts from the chaos of Hermione's own attempted escape outside. She thought that his attempt to help may be genuine, but her post-tortured condition was allowing her to lose focus, she felt as though she had no energy to waste wondering if it was a trick or if it was real, all things considered, she was just grateful for a calm environment, if only for a moment.

  After a few minutes had passed, but all too suddenly, Draco's head shot back up, but without looking at Hermione, she felt his hands snatch away quickly from her shoulders and slip under her arms, locking his fingers behind her back. Draco pulled Hermione into a smothering hug, the space between them melting as he pulled her tightly against himself. She could feel his face pressed into her hair on the top of her head, his voice muffled by her thick brown curls as he said

“I'm sorry, you don't have to believe me, but it's the truth, for better or worse, I don't want to be a Death Eater, and I can't pretend anymore” Hermione could feel that the top of her head was damp, and assumed Draco had let a few tears slip, hidden in her hair.

‘“Shh” Hermione hushed “it's ok, I understand” she assured him “and thank you”

“For what” She heard him sniff from above.

“Saving me, if you hadn't helped me, and brought me here, I would probably have been found and killed by now” Hermione felt a chill run down her spine, and sensed that Draco did too, as his posture stiffened.

“it doesn't end here, I promise” He said, removing his head from her brunette locks and speaking clearer now “I'm going to get you out of here, Potter and Weasley too” Draco said, slowly releasing the hug and meeting her eye line again. “But first, I'm going to get you to something to sleep in” he stood up and and walked over to one of the three, giant mirrors, and pulled it forward to reveal a magnificent wardrobe behind it. Hermione glanced back around at the beautiful four poster bed, thinking longingly of luxurious sleep, when a sudden thought hit her. She turned back to Draco, who was now rummaging in one of the wardrobe drawers.

“But… There's only one bed” She reminded him.

“Yeah, I know” Draco replied, without looking back. “You’re going to sleep in it, and first thing tomorrow, before anybody else in the manor wakes up, I’ll smuggle you out of here” He said, turning to face her. She could see he was holding one of the shirts she recognised as a slytherin quidditch jersey, she had seen him wear it around the quidditch pitch at school when he practiced with his house team. Never in a million years would she have thought she'd seen the day that he held it out for her to take and put on. Hermione softly reached up and took it softly from his outstretched hand. “Then we're going to work on slipping the others past the Death Eaters, but I won't be doing that until I know you're a hundred miles from here and well hidden…there is an ensuite bathroom behind the mirror on the left” He pointed to the mirrors he had came from “You can go in there to get changed if you like, and freshen yourself up, make yourself feel like a person again, Hermione”

“Thank you, Draco” she said, slowly getting up and walking towards the leftmost mirror. She didn't recognise herself in the large reflection, she avoided her own gaze and searched for the handle hidden beneath the black marble frame of the mirror. Finding it, she pulled, and surely enough, it swung open to reveal one of the nicest bathrooms Hermione had ever seen. There were brightly lit lanterns in each corner, lighting the room up magnificently. The floor was smooth with pale blue tiles and the walls were painted bright white. The bath was the shape of a large sea shell, and a big mirror hung over a smaller sea shell wash basin. Giving Draco one last look and meaningful nod, and she stepped inside the blue room and let the mirror door click shut behind her.

  Hermione immediately heart the loud War noises outside die down to tiny thuds and crackles, the room was obviously sound proofed to a degree. She removed her coat, then her jumper, taking extra care as her arm was still burning as though someone was holding a flame to it, and folded them, placing them on the edge of the bath tub where she sat down to take off her shoes. Slowly undoing the laces, she pulled them off. Hermione then stood up, unzipped her jeans and slid them down her legs. Folding those too, and putting them on the pile, she was left standing in her bra, pants and socks. She picked up the green and grey shirt and pulled it over her head, letting the soft material caress her goosebump covered skin, and inhaling the smell of clean clothes deeply. _‘make yourself feel like a person again’_ she heard Draco's words in her head again. She clutched at the shirt for comfort and sniffed it once more, then moved herself over to the sea shell sink.

  Hermione inspected her bruised and cut face, she looked into her own tired eyes and shook her head.

“No, this will not break you” She told herself. She looked at the image of herself in slytherin clothing and felt silly, wondering what her friends would say if they could see her now. Her long brown curls coming past her shoulders and stopping at the top of the silver snake embroidery on the shirt. Nobody would have guessed she was a muggleborn who's been on the run and tortured, she looked at though she’d just come back from a rough quidditch practice. The thought of Hermione on a Broom, playing quidditch made her laugh, she enjoyed watching the boys and Ginny play, but she had never been very taken with it herself.

  Hermione's smile fell again when she looked down and saw the word ‘mudblood’ scarred into her arm. She put her whole arm in the sink and turned the taps. She scrubbed her arm so that it was no longer bloodstained, and it made the horrid word stand out clearer than ever. Hermione screwed up her nose and looked back at her reflection.

“I’m going to murder that bitch” She promised herself, before splashing water over her face, then turning and walking towards the door she had come from.

  When she left the bathroom and re-entered Draco's bedroom, she noticed he had gotten changed himself, now wearing just a pair of green loungers, he was sat on the edge of the bed, writing in quick scrawls and shaking his head.

“Well _that's_ not going to work” Draco said to himself, clearly not noticing Hermione's return. “come on, _think_ ” he continued.

“what won't work?” She asked, not knowing how else to announce her presence. Draco slightly jumped, but his face relaxed at the sight of Hermione.

“Well look at you” He said, unable to keep his small smile at bay “you would make a good Slytherin, Granger” Hermione just smiled, unable to respond in another way “are you feeling a bit safer?” Draco asked her, trying to encourage her to talk, he wanted her to feel comfortable. He patted the spot on the bed next to him, in an offer for her to come and sit down. She walked around the bed and perched herself next to him.

“This is the safest I’ve felt all year” Hermione admitted. “Thank you Draco”

“There is absolutely no need to thank me” said Draco, almost sounding offended. She didn't want to push how grateful she was onto him as she could tell he wasn't ready to hear it, so instead chanced leaning against him, softly, in an attempt for mutual comfort. He didn't seem to mind, he, in fact, adjusted himself so that they fit together a little better. Hermione took the contact from another human as a blessing and had to hold back her tears. “what wouldn't work?” Hermione asked again, changing the subject, she saw Draco's jaw clench.

“I was trying to work out our plan for tomorrow” He informed her “Getting you out is easy, it's your friends that will be the problem, the dungeon is completely locked down” Hermione furrowed her brows in concern “listen” he said, touching her face and pulling it to look at his own “don't worry about it tonight OK, I will handle it, I need you to get some sleep, so you will have the strength to travel with me tomorrow…” He adjusted himself again, preparing to stand “I’m going to-”

“No, please!” Hermione yelped out and reached for his hand, pulling him back towards her. She surprised herself, when did she get so weak? “If you wanted to…I mean… It's your bed, so… If You wanted to, you know, sleep in it…”

“Granger” he said smirking “Are you trying to get me into bed” His grin beamed as he teased her. Hermione's reaction had surprised Draco too.

“Oh just forget it!” Hermione snapped “I didn't mean _that”_ she muttered, and layed back on the pillow behind her, then turned to face the opposite direction, so that Draco couldn't see her blushing.

  Draco knew exactly what she meant, because he wanted it too, someone to hold, to make you feel normal again. The brief moment she had been in his arms earlier had been magical. To feel someone else's skin against his own, to feel another presence that wasn't entirely consumed by darkness.

  Draco studied Hermione’s body from head to toe. The way her head sank deeply into the pillows, the way her hair spewed out in all directions from the top of her head, the way his Jersey slipped along her curves as though it had been made for her. He had never realised how much he desired her before. He leaned back and joined hew on the pillow, facing the same way as Hermione so he was staring at the back of her head. He nestled up close to her, reaching around and scooping her into an intimate cuddle, his legs tucked in behind hers, he whispered into her ear.

“I’m sorry, I know what you meant, and if you would have me, Hermione, I would love to sleep next to you all night long”

  Hermione smiled to herself at the turnaround of the situation, and moved herself around to face him again.

“Sorry for snapping” Hermione said quietly “I just got a bit embarrassed, you are the last person I would expect to be asking for comfort from”

“Hey, I'm in the same boat here” He said “what must we look like to the unknowing eye” Draco pondered out loud, making them both giggle softly. Their eyes were locked on to each other, and when the smile faded from their faces after their small laugh, it remained in their eyes.

  Draco brought his hand up and caressed Hermione's face, in turn, she brought her hand up to twist a stray strand of Draco's white blonde hair around her finger. It was one of the most intimate moments that either of them had ever experienced, and all too suddenly, Hermione found herself leaning up and kissing Draco sweetly, and to her amazement he kissed back. The kiss started out slow, but quickly became passionate, the both of them releasing feelings they didn't know they had. Hermione threw both of her arms around Draco's neck to keep him in her embrace while she explored his mouth. Draco's hands were running over Hermione's trembling body, and eventually settling on her hips, pulling her closer to him. The continued to caress and explore each other with their lips, before Draco pulled away.

  Draco moved one hand up from her hip to her chin, to look her in the eye and smiled, a genuine smile, enjoying the sight of her longing golden brown eyes.

“Come on now Granger, sleep” he grinned, he kissed the top of her head, then snuggled her into himself and closed his own eyes.

  Draco had never known this happiness before, but he knew he would never let his father, or anyone, take this away from him. He found something special in Hermione. This would not be the end for them.


End file.
